University of Houston architecture Antony Cherian's design for the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts would showcase students' work and performances.

University of Houston architecture Antony Cherian's design for the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts would showcase students' work and performances.

Photo: UH

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Antony Cherian's design for the arts school would include interior glass walls.

Antony Cherian's design for the arts school would include interior glass walls.

Photo: UH

High-end living with upper-crust cuisine

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A luxury apartment complex in Rice Village with retail on the ground floor is on its way to becoming a foodie haven.

A number of restaurants are opening in the development at 2455 Dunstan.

"Although it has a few good restaurants, Rice Village is lacking really great full-service restaurants, so we feel like we're filling a restaurant void," said David Ott Jr. of Hanover Co., which developed the project.

One restaurant, Zoe's Kitchen, is already open, and several others are expected to turn on their burners late this summer.

Other dining options will include Mexican chain Cyclone Anaya's and Cloud 10 Creamery, a modern take on an ice cream shop serving such flavors as red beets and caraway; grapefruit and olive oil; and pine nuts and milk chocolate.

Of the 23,000 square feet of retail in the Hanover project, 19,000 square feet is leased to restaurants.

There will also be an Italian Coffee Bar and Cafe called Fellini, as well as a boutique called Saint Cloud. David Werlin of WPW Realty Advisors marketed the space to tenants.

The developer will be working with the restaurants to offer in-room and poolside dining for the residents living above the stores.

The project has 380 high-end apartments.

Leasing began at the beginning of the year and the complex is nearly 40 percent full, Ott said. An average-size unit - 970 square feet - rents for more than $2,300 per month.

Given the project's early success, Hanover purchased the Garden Gate nursery site and an apartment complex just north of its new development.

In August, the company is planning to start construction on a 12-story apartment building there.

The development won't have retail space and the apartments will be large, averaging around 1,400 square feet.

"It generally will be geared toward the more mature renter coming out of large homes in the neighborhood," Ott said. "We've seen great demand from residents of Southampton wanting to sell their homes and stay in the area as a renter."

Design project

Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is planning to move from its aging Montrose digs into a new building downtown.

With the project still in the planning stages, 13 architecture students from the University of Houston used it as a class project, creating their own designs for a new HSPVA, which offers instruction on creative writing, music, dance, visual arts and theater.

The students consulted with the school's administrators, faculty and students as well as former UH professor and architect Barry Moore, who had a hand in designing the current campus.

Fifth-year architecture student Antony Cherian designed a structure with interior glass walls to showcase the students' work and performances. The building would have a central atrium and an exterior draped in aluminum mesh.

Melanie Arenas, another fifth-year student, took inspiration from downtown's arts, historical and business districts.

"I looked at the campus as a possible bridge between these districts. They all tie into the school," Arenas said in a statement. "The design I came up with positions the school's performance spaces on the edges of the campus. They would comprise the skin of the school while the classrooms and commons area would be centralized within the campus. It's a way of projecting the school's talents to downtown."

The final designs were presented to HSPVA and downtown officials last week at UH's Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture.

In May, HSPVA will host an exhibition showcasing these designs.

Architecture professor Patrick Peters, who led the project, said students deliver their most creative work when faced with specific constraints associated with a real-world facility and interaction with actual clients.

The project has the potential to affect the direction of the future campus, at 1300 Capitol.

Robert Scott Allen, principal of the high school, said the work with Peters and the university has "sparked real conversations about the planning and design of the new high school."

The existing Houston Independent School District campus is at 4001 Stanford.

Gated community

Firethorne is getting its first gated community.

The developer of the 1,400-acre planned community - about a mile south of Interstate 10, between Katy and Fulshear - is offering homes that cost less than larger custom properties typically found in gated enclaves.

Firethorne officials said the subdivision addresses a strong demand for homes by empty-nesters and young professionals who want to live in a gated section.

The expansion comprises 80 acres within Firethorne and will be developed in two phases. When it's completed it will have 163 homes. They'll all be built by Perry Homes.

"A gated section such as this means reduced traffic and more seclusion for single homeowners, young marrieds and couples who are downsizing," Firethorne general manager Wayne Meyer said in a statement.